Not long ago, my nine-year-old son tried roller-blading for the first time, with some friends. He had a blast, and although he did fall down a lot he managed to avoid any serious injuries. But that night, he complained that his wrists really hurt – because every time he’d fallen, he’d caught himself on his hands, his wrists bending back and absorbing the impact.
It was clear that nothing was broken or even sprained, but also clear that he’d strained both wrist joints. So after he got ready for bed, we took a little time out for me to do some myofascial release on his wrists. My son had gotten massages from me before, but this was his first experience of MFR, of which he’d always been a little skeptical.
I worked on one wrist at a time, holding his wrist in both my hands. I’d never done this work on someone so small before; my hands seemed enormous, his wrists comically small. But fascia is fascia, and soon enough I could feel the tissues in his wrist, forearm, and hand responding to my touch.
My son was fascinated. Less than a minute into the work he commented, “It doesn’t look like your hands are moving, but I can feel that they are.” Perhaps a minute after that, with wonder in his voice, he said, “I can feel all the muscles that hurt me stretching and relaxing!” I worked each wrist for about five minutes, and afterward I encouraged him to wiggle his hands, bend his wrists in different directions, and see how they felt.
“I feel a LOT better!” he exclaimed, evidently amazed. And a moment later he added, “I understand now why people pay you for this!”
